GR translation: that dovetails inside you sharp as knives

[Mike Jing]

That helps a lot. Thanks, Robert.


On Thu, Dec 4, 2025 at 11:46 AM Robert Mahnke <rpmahnke at gmail.com> wrote:

> A dovetail is a joint, but to dovetail is to come together in a
> particularly tight and well-joined way. I think Pynchon is using it as a
> verb to express a clenching feeling in Slothrop's stomach.
>
> On Wed, Dec 3, 2025 at 10:44 PM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> I do know what a dovetail joint is. The OED definition for the verb:
>>
>> 1. transitive. To fit together or join by means of dovetails, or by a
>> similar method. Const. in, into, to.
>> 2. figurative. To unite compactly as if by dovetails; to adjust exactly,
>> so
>> as to form a continuous whole.
>> 3. intransitive. To fit into each other, so as to form a compact and
>> harmonious whole or company.
>>
>> I might be overthinking, but none of them seems to quite fit here, so I'm
>> wondering what was meant exactly.
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Dec 4, 2025 at 6:07 AM Mike Weaver <mike.weaver at zen.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>> > Woodwork - dovetail joint.
>> >
>> > On 03/12/2025 20:20, Mike Jing wrote:
>> > > V676.37-677.1, P690.3-8   Which is why Slothrop now observes his
>> > coalition
>> > > with hopes for success and hopes for disaster about equally high (and
>> no,
>> > > that doesn’t cancel out to apathy—it makes a loud dissonance that
>> > dovetails
>> > > inside you sharp as knives). It does annoy him that he can be so
>> divided,
>> > > so perfectly unable to come down on one side or another.
>> > >
>> > > What does "dovetail" mean here?
>> > > --
>> > > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>> >
>> --
>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>
>